'They've let all of our veterans down'

NOTE TO CONGRESS: Here's a clue for you. Stop complaining about the VA and fix it! Stop trying to destroy it. You've had since 1946 to get it right but apparently you forgot you have jurisdiction over it!

Vets unhappy with local clinic: 'They've let all of our veterans down'
KOMO News
By Tracy Vedder
Published: Aug 20, 2015

SEATTLE -- Three veterans with three different, serious, medical problems. All were turned away or ignored by a local Veteran's Administration clinic.

The KOMO 4 Investigators explored why, after national outrage and promises of change, the VA is still letting down local vets. The three veterans: Bob Griffin is 100 percent disabled, following his service in Vietnam.

"When I left Vietnam, I left without a memory," he said.

Olivia Labance's 80 percent disability is connected to her six years in the Army.

"It just started with some numbness and tingling down my left leg," she said.

Marine Corps vet Kyle Davis hadn't seen any doctor since he left Afghanistan over five years ago. Then a strange bug bite left him limping, nauseous and light-headed.

"It would start oozing fluid and it was, it got pretty disgusting, pretty quick," Davis said.

All three received the new Veteran's Choice cards issued by the Veteran's Administration, which promised more timely, efficient medical care. But when each went to the Mount Vernon VA clinic, care was either delayed or they were turned away.

"I never thought I'd be treated like this," Davis said.

When Davis called the number on his Choice Card explaining his emergency and asking where he should go, the program sent him to the Mount Vernon clinic in Skagit County, 37 miles north of his home in Snohomish County.

But when he arrived, clinic staff told him they aren't accepting new patients.
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